Fort Atkinson - Last fall, Lori Compas began what many viewed as a quixotic bid to unseat Senate Republican leader Scott Fitzgerald of Juneau in a recall election.

Compas was outraged by what opponents saw as hardball tactics by Republicans during the chaotic months at the Capitol after Gov. Scott Walker took office in 2011.

"I realized that my own senator was the ringleader of all of it," she said.

Working in her hometown of Fort Atkinson, she started gathering signatures, by the hundreds, then the thousands, in the 13th District, covering much of Dodge and Jefferson and pieces of Dane and Waukesha counties. Compas, 41, in many ways has become the face of the grass-roots movement in Wisconsin's recall elections.

By contrast, Fitzgerald is one of the lawmakers most closely associated with Walker. He presided over a session that included the virtual elimination of collective bargaining for most public employees, major cuts in education and changes to environmental and social programs.

And his uncompromising legislative maneuvering in a Capitol packed with demonstrators made the Senate veteran a hero to many.

"Sure, there's a group of people who are still very upset about the way it was handled," Fitzgerald said. "But more people are saying to me, 'Hey, you guys did the right thing.'

"If Lori Compas wouldn't have launched this race, I don't think there would be as much energy - maybe this gets more people to the polls."

This spring, Walker's historic recall election looms over everything.

But in addition to his contest and the race for lieutenant governor, four state Senate seats also are in play on June 5.

Fitzgerald is the most formidable of the incumbents. First elected to the Senate in 1994, he was re-elected in 2010 with 68% of the vote. In 2006, he was unopposed.

Compared with the first round of recalls last summer, Fitzgerald, 48, says voters have grown weary of it all.

"They tell me, 'Scott, you've got to stop this thing. It's a waste of time and money,' " Fitzgerald said at his campaign headquarters in Watertown.

"It's much different presenting our message this time around. School hadn't started, and Democrats could sell the idea that the world was going to fall apart.

"Now, we've had the best property tax bill people have seen in 15 years."

The protests at the Capitol disturbed George Mullen of Watertown, who supports Fitzgerald.

"How do you get the public's business done like that?" he said. "If you don't like what someone's doing, wait till the next election and vote them out."

After Compas saw that no one else was going to run against Fitzgerald, the mother of two and the wife of a college professor jumped in.

"We have to watch our leaders and hold them accountable - recalls are one way to do that," Compas said from her living room. "Democracy doesn't end when you cast your ballot."

Compas disagrees with the Republican agenda. But "the common thread is this divisive process," she said. "He just said, 'Look, it's my way or the highway' - that's not the way democracy should work."

A neighbor, Phil Ball, a longtime political activist going back to the anti-war movement in the 1960s, supports Compas.

"I saw in her all of the great things I saw in my adult life, in terms of citizen involvement," Ball said.

"I know that she's not running against Walker, but in a way she is. Fitzgerald and Walker are attached at the brain."

Other Senate races

Democrats never thought they had a chance to unseat Fitzgerald. Instead, the party targeted three other senators who were viewed as more beatable - Van Wanggaard of Racine, Terry Moulton of Chippewa Falls and Pam Galloway of Wausau.

Galloway has since resigned and in her place Rep. Jerry Petrowski (R-Stettin) is running for the open Senate seat against Rep. Donna Seidel (D-Wausau.) Her resignation left the Senate evenly split - 16-16 - between Republicans and Democrats.

Wanggaard faces former Democratic Sen. John Lehman of Racine, and Moulton is being challenged by former Democratic Rep. Kristen Dexter of Eau Claire.

But even without the help, and although she is behind in the polls, Compas has mounted a credible campaign against a formidable opponent.

The Committee to Recall Scott Fitzgerald garnered 18,282 signatures - nearly 2,000 more than was needed.

By Friday, Compas had raised more than $120,000 through ActBlue, a national online funding vehicle for the Democratic Party, the latest tally shows.

Fitzgerald's most recent campaign finance statement shows he's raised $231,288. He had a balance from previous fundraising of $427,374.

The senator disputes Compas' portrayal of herself as a grass-roots candidate. We Are Wisconsin, a union-supported group that backs Democrats, has been distributing literature for Compas, both sides agree.

He also says the driving forces of her candidacy are unions and Compas' husband, Eric, an assistant professor of geography and geology at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater who organized a teach-in on the campus in March 2011 to discuss the union bargaining bill.

Eric Compas said the decision to challenge Fitzgerald was his wife's alone.

In the other Senate races:

District 21. Wanggaard faces Lehman, whom Wanggaard defeated in 2010 in a district that covers much of Racine County.

Lehman said the electorate is far more polarized than two years ago, and one big difference this year is the large amount of money being spent.

Both men agreed that the campaign is centered on their respective records, with Lehman criticizing Wanggaard for supporting cuts in spending for education, and Wanggaard saying that Republicans have put the state's fiscal house in order without raising taxes.

"We did exactly what we said we said we would," Wanggaard said.

District 23. Moulton is opposed by Dexter, who defeated Moulton in 2008 for an Assembly seat. The Senate district covers Eau Claire and Chippewa Falls and large portions of Eau Claire, Chippewa and Clark counties.

Dexter said the economy, cuts to education and Republicans' limits on eligibility for BadgerCare, the state health program for the poor, are the issues voters are talking about.

"The policies of Terry Moulton and Scott Walker favor the few at the expense of the working class," Dexter said.

Moulton didn't comment by phone but in an email response said: Dexter "was responsible for $5 billion in new taxes on families and small businesses, a $3.6 billion budget deficit and 100,000 jobs lost in Wisconsin during her time in Madison."

District 29. Seidel is challenging Petrowski for a Senate seat that includes Wausau and rural areas to the north and northwest.

The resignation of Galloway "changed the nature of the race," Seidel said, but she said that Petrowski voted for the same policies.

"There has not nearly been enough done for jobs," Seidel said. "That's the top issue."